A noticeable trend amongst companies that make it big is that, as they turn into big corporations their innovation engines gradually stutter and slow down — case in point, HP and IBM. There have been shelves of books written on this matter. Google seems to be a little different in this regard. One plausible argument is that, while most big corporations have a sales, marketing or a finance person at their helm, Google has an engineer.
I think having an engineer/scientist at the top post does alter the DNA of the company. This is probably the reason why they hire the kind of engineers/researchers they do, make the kind of partnerships with Universities that they have been, and above all else, their approach to research is not based on FOMO or based on what the shareholders think.
I would think this is the reason why Google has established a sound philosophy around their approach to research — Read Google’s Hybrid Approach to Research.
There is always this looming question of where Google is going with their numerous forays, interests and investments? And oh well! If Google does fail, then it will be attributed to the company losing focus because of having an engineer at the helm. Only time will tell where this train is headed.
Originally published at subbdue.com.
